Ryanair has posted a 26 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit and raised full-year guidance as it pointed to brighter prospects for the winter.
Ryanair said profit after tax in the three months to the end of September rose to €268.7 million. That compares with €213.4 million a year earlier.
The carrier said it still expected ticket prices to drop in the six months to the end of March but that the fall in passenger yields would be at the lower end of the 5 to 10 per cent range previously indicated.
"As a result of these better winter yield forecasts and the costs savings which we continue to realise, we now believe that full year net profit will rise by 17.5 per cent to approximately €470 million," the carrier said said.
Shares in airline fell 4 per cent, however, with traders highlighting the company's failure to beat market expectations as it often has done in the past and worries over its lack of protection against record oil prices.
Analysts widely expected the airline to improve guidance after strong summer sales were buoyed by its biggest-ever ticket sale and a lowest fare price promise to passengers.
